Bohemians handed Estonian test

Bohemians have been drawn against Estonian champions FC Levadia Maardu in the first qualifying round of the European Champions League.

Bohs, who knocked Aberdeen out of last year’s Uefa Cup and came away from Kaiserslautern with a victory, will expect to go into this tie as favourites but are taking nothing for granted.

"I haven’t a clue about them at this stage," admitted Bohs’ manager Pete Mahon. "They played a Welsh side Inter Cardiff last year so we’ll be calling on our friends in Wales for a little bit of background. information.

"They should have some of the players from the national team that played Ireland last time out so obviously they’ll be a decent side.

"But I’m confident of going through. If we have all our players available to us, obviously Trevor Molloy is out on suspension, but if we have the rest of the team fit we’ll go through."

Mahon will have his team back in training tomorrow and there are two FAI Super Cup matches in the pipeline to help prepare his team before the FC Levadia first-leg tie on July 11th.

Should they safely negotiate the Estonians, Bohs will come up against Halmstad in the second qualifying round. Halmstad, Swedish champions in 2000 and "a different kettle of fish" according to Mahon, currently lie in seventh position in the their domestic league.

Elsewhere in the draw, Irish League champions Linfield were drawn against Torpedo Kutaisi whilst Rangers will face Slovenian champions NK Maribor in the second qualifying round.

Full Qualifying Draw:

1. Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) v Zeljeznicar Sarajevo (Bosnia)

2. Linfield (Northern Ireland) v Torpedo Kutaisi (Georgia)

3. Reykjavik (Iceland) v Vllaznia Shkoder (Albania)

4. Sloga Jugomagnat Skopje (Macedonia) v Kaunas (Lithuania)

5. VB Vagur (Faroe Islands) v Slavia Mozyr (Belarus)

6. Bohemians(Ireland) v Levadia Maardu (Estonia)

7. Barry Town (Wales) v Samkir (Azerbaijan)

8. Valletta (Malta) v Haka (Finland)

9. Dudelange (Luxembourg) v Skonto Riga (Latvia)

10. Araks Ararat (Armenia) v Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)

First leg matches to be played Wednesday, July 11, second leg matches Wednesday, July 18.

Second Qualifying round

Anderlecht (Belgium) v Winner match 10
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) v Lugano (Switzerland)
* Dunaferr or Ferencvaros (Hungary) v Hajduk Split (Croatia)
Winner match 6 v Halmstad (Sweden)
Winner match 2 v FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) v Crvena Zvezda (Yugoslavia)
Winner match 8 v Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Winner match 1 v Brann Bergen (Norway)
Galatasaray (Turkey) v Winner match 3
Porto (Portugal) v Winner match 7
Steaua Bucharest (Romania) v Winner match 4
Winner match 9 v Wisla Krakow (Poland)
Winner match 5 v Inter Bratislava (Slovakia)
Maribor (Slovenia) v Rangers (Scotland)

First leg matches to be played Wednesday, July 25, second leg matches Wednesday, August 1.